Dear Parents and Carers,
​
This is just a short newsletter to update you on a few things and to remind you of some previous correspondence.

Staff News
We are very pleased to welcome Miss Gregory back to Year 5.  Miss Manfredi will continue to work alongside her as she makes this return.  To support Miss Gregory, we need to move our Year 5 children to the ground floor of the building.  Our Year 4 children will be moving upstairs.  We intend to move things between classrooms on Friday morning.
We are saying goodbye to Mrs Davis after over 15 year’s service at the school. 
We are immensely grateful to Jo for all she has contributed and she will be missed.

Medication
All medication that comes into school must come via the school office and the appropriate paperwork needs to be completed.  Medication must also be collected from the school office – it cannot be sent home via the class teacher.  If your child attends Norbury Tinkers medication can be sent to and from school via their team.

Fans
We have recently enjoyed some warmer weather after a very long a wet winter.  We obviously do all we can to make the children safe and comfortable in the warmer weather but would ask that the children don’t bring hand held fans into school.

Wrongsemble Theatre Visit
Wrongsemble Theatre Company are in school on Wednesday 15th April.  All children will be watching the performance including our Nursery children.  To support this visit we would ask for a £2 voluntary contribution per child towards the cost.  This has been set up for you on School Money.

The Big Walk and Wheel – 16th – 27th March
Thank you to those families who have walked, biked or scooted to school across this fortnight.  Thank you also to our School Council for encouraging us to do so and collating the information about the number of children who have done this.

Primary Sports Coaching – Holiday Camps
Primary Sports Coaching are running a holiday camp at the school during the Easter holiday (excluding bank holidays and Monday 30th March).
For more information, please visit https://www.primaryscl.co.uk/holiday-camps/  
or email [email protected]
There are a limited number of free places for children who receive ‘benefits related free school meals’ and attend school or reside in Stockport. Vouchers will be sent to eligible families by email in the next few days. Please keep an eye on your emails and on PSCL’s social media pages.

Term Dates – 2026 / 2027
Alongside this newsletter we are publishing term dates for next year.  I would like to use this opportunity to remind parents that term time holidays are unauthorised.  It is important that your child is in school as much as possible.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a lovely Easter break. 
​We look forward to seeing the children after this.

Best wishes
Becky Wood

​

Spring Term – Are you ready to travel the world?

Dear parents/carers,

Over this last term we have been having lots of fun in Nursery and learning lots of new things. We had a brilliant time during book fortnight and loved coming to Nursery dressed as some of our favourite book characters. Thank you so much for all your continued support.
During this term in Nursery, we have been:
​

• Practising counting in order to 10
• Counting small sets of objects with 1:1 correspondence
• Counting out sets of objects
• Singing number songs and rhymes
• Naming 2D shapes
• Using positional vocabulary in our play
• Recognising our name around the environment
• Identifying the first sound in words
• Orally blend simple words
• Practising to write/ form some letters from our name
• Mark making using different media
• Finding out about different countries around the world
• Creating our own models using the junk model equipment
• Looking at changes in our environment, due to the change in season
• Practising our gymnastics skills in the hall, using the different apparatus

 
Requests
Over the next two weeks we will be exploring more history and changes over time. Next week we will be talking about our favourite toys and looking at how toys have changed/remained similar over history. The following week we will be looking at how we have changed and grown. To help us with our discussions we would be very grateful if you could upload to Tapestry a photo of:

1. A baby photo
2. A photo of your child’s favourite toy at home

 
Sound tins
After the holidays we will have a ‘Sound of the week’ focus and ask if you can please bring in a named pencil case, small container or clean take away tub that your child can use as their sound tin. Each week we will add the new sound for your child to share with you and practice at home.
 
Reading Books
After the Easter holidays we will be sending home a wordless picture book each week in your child’s library book folder. Children will be given the choice of which book they would like to take home each week. Please share this book each week with your child and return in their library folder the following week. Wordless picture books are an important starting point because they allow children to explore stories through pictures before they are able to read written words. By looking at the pictures, children can use their imagination to describe what they see, predict what might happen next, and create their own version of the story. This helps develop early language skills, storytelling ability and confidence in communicating ideas. Wordless books also encourage children to focus on emotions and what is happening in the pictures, which supports comprehension and observation skills.
Library/reading book day:
Beginning of the week/full timers: Wednesday
End of the week: Thursday
 
Key Points
Just a reminder we are a nut-free school and we also have children in Nursery with a range of allergies. We therefore ask that no nut products are put into lunchboxes.
Remember to check Tapestry regularly as we share photos and what we have been doing each week on there. Please do speak to one of us if you are struggling to login in to your account.
 
Thank you so much for your attendance to our parent’s meetings,
The Nursery Team

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have some exciting news for you! We will once again be taking part in Big Walk and Wheel, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 16 – 27 March 2026. It’s free to take part and we would love everyone to be involved. Teachers will be talking to the children each morning about how they have travelled to school and this will then be recorded.

What do you need to do?
Encourage your child(ren) to walk, use a wheelchair, scoot or cycle to school on as many days as possible during the event.
 
Including everyone
We want to make sure that everyone can get involved in Big Walk and Wheel.
We know it may be more difficult for some pupils to take part than others. If you want to discuss more about your child(ren)’s specific needs, please contact the school office and we will make sure to look into how your child(ren) can take part.
 
Why we are taking part
Big Walk and Wheel is a great way to build physical activity in children’s daily routine which is important for their physical health and mental wellbeing.
 
Active school runs also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate. A 2021 YouGov study showed nearly half of UK children worry about air pollution near their school. And that children thought active travel was the best away to bring down these pollution levels.

Useful resources
To help you prepare, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust has developed a handy Parent/ Caregiver page on the challenge website. It is packed with advice to help you have a hassle-free journey to school.

For more information about the event go to www.bigwalkandwheel.org.uk.
Enjoy the challenge!
​
Best wishes
Sian Murphy

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope everyone had a great half term break.  The children have come back full of enthusiasm and have very much enjoyed all that Book Fortnight has to offer.  We really appreciate your help with the events we hold as part of the fortnight and we hope this has helped to continue to engage your child with reading.

OPAL
Our OPAL areas have opened on Monday.  This was a great success and it was good to see the children having so much choice about where to play.  Please make sure that your child has wellies in school all the time as there will be times when they won’t be able to use some of the areas without them.  We will go out unless the weather is exceptionally wet or dangerous so please make sure your child has a waterproof coat in school.

NHS Guidance for Children under 5
We have been asked to share the following link for parents with children under 5.  I hope you find the information useful.
https://gmintegratedcare.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/nhs-gm-get-to-know-where-to-go-for-parent-and-carers.pdf

Wrongsemble Theatre Visit
Following the success of two visits by Wrongsemble Theatre Company, we plan to have them return to school on Wednesday 15th April.  They will be part of the launch of our summer term Quest with their performance of Rapunzel.  All children will be watching the performance including our Nursery children.  To support this visit we would ask for a £2 voluntary contribution per child towards the cost.  This has been set up for you on School Money.

Food Safety
We have some children in school who have an allergy to nuts.  Please could I politely request that all families support this by not sending any nut-based products into school either as a snack or in lunchboxes.

The Big Walk and Wheel – 16th – 27th March
The School Council has coordinated and publicised ‘The Big Walk and Wheel’ which is taking place between 16th and 27th March.  You will have received correspondence from the School Council regarding this.  I would encourage as many families as possible to either walk, cycle or scoot to school across this fortnight.

Primary Sports Coaching – Holiday Camps
Primary Sports Coaching are running a holiday camp at the school during the Easter holiday (excluding bank holidays and Monday 30th March).
For more information, please visit https://www.primaryscl.co.uk/holiday-camps/  
​or email [email protected]

There are a limited number of free places for children who receive ‘benefits related free school meals’ and attend school or reside in Stockport. Vouchers will be sent to eligible families by email in the next few days. Please keep an eye on your emails and on PSCL’s social media pages.

Thank you as ever for your continued support,
​
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Spring Term – Are You Ready to Travel the World?
 
Dear Parents and Carers,
 
The children really enjoyed ‘Book Fortnight’ and were especially excited to dress up and celebrate world book day together with their friends!  The ‘story stones’ that have arrived into school are just great and so creative!  Thank you for taking part in creating
them with your child and they will be varnished and enjoyed as part of our Opal Play! 
The children have also been immersed in the many stories they have brought in and enjoyed sharing their favourite books.
 
Alongside, our ‘Book Fortnight’, the children are continuing to learn: -

• Numbers within 10 by practically exploring ways to make 10.  E.g. 7 and 3 make 10
• Finding 1 more and 1 less within 10.
• Exploring 3D shape.  Shape names and some properties e.g. flat and curved surfaces
• Building models with 3D shapes
• Writing a simple sentence using their knowledge of phonics and tricky words taught so far.  Starting to learn that a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
• Exploring in outdoor learning and looking for signs of spring.
• Creating a moving under the sea picture using a range of materials and media.
• Learning to care and understand about our earth, in particular the creatures in our seas.

Dear Parents,

This year Norbury Hall will be taking part in the Stockport Book Awards. The aims of the Book Awards are as follows:

·      to raise the profile of reading for pleasure
·      to offer children access to some of the best new fiction
·      to increase parents’, teachers’ and school librarians’ awareness of new fiction
·      to create a community of readers in Stockport by providing opportunities for children           to meet authors and providing a forum for reading and an opportunity to share books
 
The children will be in three categories for the award:
1.    Best picture book – for Early years and Key Stage 1
2.    Best read for Year 3 and 4
3.    Best read for Year 5 and 6
 
(See the attached book charts for each of the categories)
 
In the Early Years and Key Stage 1 category the children will be read three current picture books that have been shortlisted by teachers in Stockport who have read a much larger selection of new books. In the year 3/4 and 5/6 categories there are three fiction books that have been shortlisted that we ask the children to read. Once they have read the books the children will then be asked to vote for their favourite in their category. All children entering a vote will receive a certificate and will be entered into a prize draw firstly to receive book vouchers through school but as an ultimate prize they will receive an invitation to the Stockport Book Awards where they will receive a medal for their commitment to reading and will have the opportunity to meet the winning author in their category. This award ceremony will be held on Monday 6th July at Stockport Town Hall. The children will have roughly ten weeks to read their three books and all votes will need to be in by Friday 15th May so that we can announce the winners in the last week of term.

Children in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 category will read their books during class story time and will then be asked to vote in class. However, this is not possible for key stage 2 so we will be asking them to read their books independently. We have purchased multiple copies so that we can make as many as possible available to the children. Stockport libraries will also have additional copies to lend to the children. However, I have included a list of the books and their authors in case the children would like to purchase them themselves or receive them for presents for birthdays etc. The books are clearly highly recommended as good reading material.

In addition, the children also have the opportunity to take part in the art competition, where one lucky winner will win their height in books. Last year Norbury were very successful with this, and we had several winners and runners up from our school. The children will need to create a piece of art based on their favourite book in their category using any media, such as a painting, a collage, or a drawing. The children can complete their artwork as part of their home learning and bring it to me in school by Friday 15th May and I will enter it into the competition. Please can the children write their full name, class and the title of the book that the artwork represents.

We hope the children will enjoy participating in this year’s Stockport Children’s Book Awards and enjoy reading some fantastic books,
​
Happy reading!
Bridget Adnett
English Lead / Deputy  Headteacher